Labor of Love Read online

  As soon as people got up from a table, people sat down at it—mess and all. Then the server would come clean up the mess, take the order, and head over to another table and do the same thing.

  “Over here,” Tank said and led us to a just-vacated table.

  It was covered in plates, cups, and loads of powdered sugar. We dusted off the chairs before sitting down.

  “This is something that just has to be experienced to be believed,” Tank said.

  The server came over and began clearing the table. “Order?”

  “Two orders of beignets and four café au laits,” Tank said. Then looked around at us. “Any objections?”

  “Sounds good,” I said.

  Jenna just smiled.

  “We’re going to be sticky after this, aren’t we?” I asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Tank said. “But it’s worth it.”

  I couldn’t believe how crowded it was. And how fast the servers were taking care of people. Apparently Café Du Monde was a tradition for tourists and locals alike.

  The waiter brought over our two plates of the little fried squares of dough smothered in confectioners’ sugar. He also set down our mugs of café au lait—half coffee, half milk. It all smelled really good.

  I picked up a beignet. It was still hot, very hot, just out of the fryer, and the powdered sugar floated around me. There was a jar of more sugar on the table. Not that I could imagine anyone ever needing to add any to the beignets. I bit into the fried dough. Was it ever good!

  We made an absolute mess as we ate, leaving powdered sugar all over our faces, our hands, our clothes, but no one seemed to mind.

  I kept sneaking peeks at Brady, only to discover him looking at me. It was starting to get awkward. I was afraid I was sending a message I didn’t want to send, like that I was obsessed with him or something—when I wasn’t. I wasn’t going to let myself be.

  Even though it seemed like he might be interested in me. Sean had tried to hook up with Amber, and then he’d hooked up with Sara. While Brady, as far as I know, hadn’t tried to get together with anyone except me.

  So was he interested?

  I was pretty sure he was, but he was keeping it cool. Casual. I thought maybe I could handle that.

  Maybe.

  Chapter 12

  “I’m sorry your friend left,” Saraphina—oops, she was Sara when she wasn’t at the shop—said.

  I was in the backyard, sawing off the dead branches of an uprooted tree. The tree itself was dead as well, rotting, and nothing more than an eyesore. But it was also huge. I could imagine the wondrous shade that it had provided for the nearby house. I could certainly use some shade now. It was late morning, and we were waiting for the truck with the lumber and supplies to arrive, filling in the time with odd jobs.

  “She just got a little freaked,” I explained.

  “Sometimes people do that,” Sara said, picking up scattered smaller branches and tossing them into the wheelbarrow.

  I stopped sawing for a moment and took the red bandanna Brady had given me earlier and wiped my brow. When he’d given it to me, it had been wet and cold and he’d wrapped it around my neck to help cool me down. It had felt so good that I hadn’t even been bothered that it was such a boyfriend kind of thing to do. Now all the water had evaporated, and I was using it as a towel to mop my face.

  “How long have you been able to see things?” I asked.

  “As long as I can remember.”

  “Do you see your own future?” I thought that would be pretty weird. Would you know what days not to get out of bed?

  Hmm. That might be advantageous.

  “I see things, but I don’t always know who they apply to. Sometimes the visions are stronger when I’m touching someone, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for that person. It’s hard to explain.”

  “But the things you predicted, they’ve all sort of happened.”

  “Sometimes I get them right.”

  “Do you like being psychic?”

  “It has its moments.”

  “Have you ever helped the police?”

  She laughed. “At least you don’t think it’s a parlor trick. I tried to help them once, but they’re as skeptical as your friend was.”

  I placed the saw on the branch and started moving it back and forth. “I think she’s an actual believer now.”

  “She’ll be back here before the end of summer,” Sara said quietly.

  I stilled the saw and looked over my shoulder at Sara.

  She shrugged. “I see her here, but all this looks less messy.”

  “I didn’t think you gave free readings.”

  “This isn’t really a reading. It’s just conversation.”

  But that didn’t make it any less spooky.

  “Is she just visiting or coming to help?” I asked.

  “That I can’t say.”

  “You can’t or you won’t?”

  She smiled. “I don’t know why she’s here. I only know that she’s here. And I see someone else…a guy with black hair. I see things getting broken.”

  Chad had black hair, but how could things get broken if he was here with her? That meant everything was fixed. Didn’t it?

  “What exactly does that mean?” I asked.

  Again, she shook her head.

  “I know, I know. You can tell me only what you see, not what it means. You must have been wildly popular at sleepovers.”

  She laughed. She had a light, lyrical laugh. It seemed to suit her.

  Reaching out, she wrapped her hand around mine. “Don’t be afraid to rebuild.”

  I started sawing diligently. “Does this look like I’m afraid?”

  “No, Dawn, it doesn’t. But looks are often deceiving.”

  “No offense, but I’d like to have a conversation with you sometime when you didn’t tell me the things you were seeing.”

  “That would be nice. Normal, even,” she said, smiling.

  “Have you ever seen the endings of movies that you’re watching?” Jenna asked as she walked over and handed each of us a bottle of water. “That would be a total bummer.”

  She’d missed the rest of our conversation, having gone on another water run. We were trying to drink as much as we could. One girl had fainted yesterday. They called EMTs who had taken her to the hospital. She was going to be fine, but it was a reminder that we needed lots of fluids throughout the day.

  “No,” Sara said. “And I don’t know any winning lottery numbers or who’s going to win the Super Bowl. I can’t control what I see. It just happens. Anyway, I didn’t come over here to discuss my visions. I’m organizing a group to go on a ghost tour Saturday night, and I wanted to see if you were interested in coming.”

  “That would be fun,” I said. I looked at Jenna to gauge her reaction and knew what she was going to say before she said it. Sara’s psychic ability was rubbing off on me.

  “I’m sort of leaving Saturday night free for now, in case something…well, maybe you already know. Am I going to have other plans?”

  “No, you won’t have other plans.”

  “Oh.” Jenna’s face fell. “Then I guess I’ll say yes.”

  “She could be wrong,” I told Jenna. “Not everything she sees is an absolute.”

  “This is,” Sara said smugly.

  “So you saw her on the ghost tour?”

  “No, Tank told me that he and Jenna were coming. So I was just asking you, Dawn, because I figured Jenna’s answer was already yes. Are you interested?”

  Was I, or did I want to keep Saturday night open? Open for what? A better offer? I wasn’t looking for a date. So what could be better than getting up close and personal with ghosts?

  “Sounds like fun,” I said. “I’m definitely there.”

  “Good. We’ll meet outside my shop at nine.” She turned to walk away, then stopped. “And just so you know—I’ll be matching people up into pairs. You’ll be with Brady.”

  “He’s going to be there?”